Summary
- Fly Jinnah, Pakistan’s low-cost carrier, is launching its first international route from Islamabad to Sharjah on February seventeenth, 2024.
- The route may have two non-stop day by day flights, providing seamless connectivity beyond Pakistan for passengers.
- Fly Jinnah’s latest service to Sharjah will face competition on the path to Lahore, where Airblue currently operates nonstop flights.
Pakistan’s low-cost carrier, Fly Jinnah, has announced the launch of its first international route from Islamabad International Airport (ISB) to Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) within the United Arab Emirates. The route is anticipated to start operating on February seventeenth, 2024, utilizing an A320.
The brand new route shall be operated with two non-stop day by day flights. The primary flight, 9P 740, departs ISB at 6:50 within the morning and arrives at SHJ just after 9:25. After an hour on the bottom in Sharjah, flight 9P 741 makes the return trip to Pakistan, arriving at ISB at 14:20. A second flight will depart for SHJ at 19:55, arriving at 22:30 and remaining on the bottom one hour before returning to ISB by 3:25.
The international flight is a big milestone for the carrier, which was first established in late 2022. The ISB-SHJ route shall be the airline’s sixth; the low-cost carrier currently operates at Karachi (KHI), Lahore (LHE), Peshawar (PEW), and Quetta (UET). The airline said in a press release that its goal is to supply seamless connectivity beyond Pakistan.
Airline’s expansion
Fly Jinnah announced the brand new route days after it took delivery of two 13-year-old A320s. The 2 aircraft were previously in service with Air Arabia. The delivery of those two A320s brings Fly Jinnah’s fleet to a complete of 5 aircraft, all powered by CFM56 engines.
Photo: Fly Jinnah
Air Arabia, for its part, launched Fly Jinnah as a subsidiary as a part of a three way partnership with the Lakson Group. Concurrently Air Arabia created Fly Jinnah, the airline also arrange Fly Arna, a low-cost carrier serving Armenia. Nonetheless, that airline has struggled and suspended its operations. Air Arabia itself was the primary low-cost airline within the Middle East, and relies at SHJ.
Onboard each A320 within the Fly Jinnah fleet, customers can benefit from the airline’s free in-flight streaming service, which allows passengers to stream on to their very own devices. The airline also features different snacks and food options available for purchase.
Photo: Fly Jinnah
For those unfamiliar, SHJ itself is simply 25 miles from Dubai International Airport (DXB). At DXB, Pakistan International Airlines and Airblue each operate the A320 to ISB. PIA’s DXB service, very similar to Fly Jinnah’s, can also be twice day by day, once very early within the morning and once at night. Indian low-cost carriers IndiGo and GoAir operate the A320 to varied destinations in India from DXB.
SHJ to Pakistan
SHJ, for its part, did not have non-stop service service to Islamabad before Fly Jinnah. Currently, those wishing to attach between SHJ and ISB would wish to depend on Qatar Airways’ 737 MAX 8 service, connecting at Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH), and arriving in Islamabad on an A350-900. Flying the SHJ-ISB route on Qatar Airways is anticipated to take around 3 hours longer than Fly Jinnah’s latest service.
Fly Jinnah’s latest service to SHJ would also face competition on the route between SHJ to Lahore. Airblue currently operates that route nonstop with an A321, while passengers on Fly Jinnah wanting to travel between the 2 cities would wish to stop in ISB first.